The invention relates to an apparatus for removing or replacing aircraft brake assembly and/or tire assembly. The apparatus is also used to store or ship the brakes or tires of aircraft.
The tires and brakes of aircraft are constantly subjected to friction and stress which rapidly wear the brakes and tires. Because of safety regulations, the brakes and tires must be carefully examined and replaced when required in order to avoid any brake or tire-related accidents.
The brakes and tires of many commercial aircraft are huge and weigh heavily. These items generally require more than one person to remove and/or replace the tires or brakes. Generally, the items are handled manually and require a forklift or cart to transport the items after they are removed and sent to storage. In storage, the tires are stacked and the brakes must be carefully handled and stored to prevent scoring. After repair or inspection, the items need to be transported to be placed on the aircraft. Since the items are bulky and heavy, more than one person participates in the activity. The manual handling of the tires and brakes is time consuming and requires several maintenance personnel to act.
There is a need in the airline industry to provide a safer, easier and less costly method in man-hours to deal with the removal, replacement and/or storage of tires and brakes.
There is provided an apparatus for assisting in the removal and/or replacement of brakes and/or tires of an aircraft. Accordingly, there is provided a cart having a frame comprising a pair of spaced apart vertical tube members joined at the bottom by a rear horizontal bar having a wheel attached at each end of the horizontal bars extending at a back end perpendicularly from each end of the bottom bar. The horizontal bars are joined at a front end by a front tube member. The front tube member has a vertical bar at each end and is parallel to the back bar. A housing for the brake assembly is placed on the frame for housing the brake assembly. Support means is provided for supporting a brake assembly placed into the housing and means on the bottom front end of said apparatus for supporting a tire assembly outside of the housing. Preferably, the brake assembly is mounted into a separate container which is placed in the housing.
Advantageously, there is provided a means for adjusting the height of said housing to permit proper alignment of said tire assembly or brake assembly so as to remove it and slide it into position in the housing.
It is a general object of the invention to provide an apparatus to assist in the removal and/or replacement of an aircraft brake assembly or tire assembly.
It is another object of the invention to provide a means for transporting and storing an aircraft brake assembly.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an apparatus which can assist in removal and storage of an aircraft brake assembly using only one person.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a much safer way of removing the brake assembly and tire assembly without injury to personnel.